Senior Forester

Senior Forester

Classification:
Program Associate IV (for applicants with an RPF license)
Full Salary Range: $36.06 to $46.06 ($75,005 to $95,805 annual salary)

Employment Type:

Full-Time, Exempt

The Watershed Research and Training Center (WRTC) sustains healthy lands and healthy communities. What started in the early 1990s as a local project to re‑train displaced loggers and mill workers in Trinity County, CA is now a vibrant nonprofit organization working locally, statewide and nationally on a host of landscape conservation and community development issues. In addition to putting dozens of our community members back to work in the woods each year, we lead several forest and watershed conservation programs, coordinate state wood utilization and fire management partnerships, and have played an influential role in state and federal policy‑making and program direction.

We are a team of approximately 70 year‑round staff with up to 80 additional seasonal staff dedicated to caring for people and the landscapes we depend upon.

The Forestry and Fuels Program is one of the Watershed Center’s flagships, in operation for nearly 30 years. This program addresses the complexities of increasing landscape and community resilience to climate change and wildfire, sustainable forestry, and increasing local employment in forest stewardship, all operating within one of the most diverse temperate forest ecosystems and fire environments on earth.

Core program functions span cooperative cross‑boundary planning and project design, landowner engagement and technical assistance, project preparation and layout, and project implementation (accomplished both with our own crews and aligned private contractors). Along with core forestry and fuels management functions, the program also encompasses botany and wildlife divisions, and works in close coordination with our Watershed Stewardship and Fire Management Programs to accomplish complex resource benefit objectives at the project and landscape scales.

Our growing program team comprises a combination of year‑round professional staff, field crew managers, and seasonal technical and labor crews planning and implementing across a complex suite of dozens of projects annually.

The Senior Forester works as a member of the Forestry and Fuels Program alongside a team of two foresters, our Fuels, Forestry, Botany and Wildlife Division leaders, and a program support position, reporting directly to the Program Director. The Senior Forester provides broad support to various projects within the scope of the Watershed Center’s Forestry and Fuels Program with a focus on planning and administering complex forestry and hazardous fuels reduction projects on public and private lands including prioritization, unit delineation, environmental compliance (NEPA, CEQA, CA Forest Practice Act), layout and implementation support.

This position will also involve opportunities to assist other divisions and programs within the successful candidate’s interests, capabilities and aspirations, including in our sector‑leading fire and watershed programs. This position requires a variable combination of office and field time, dictated by season and project priorities. Effective coordination with other organizational staff, communication with the program director, and coordination with landowners and project partners are crucial aspects of this position.

• Interact positively and professionally with WRTC staff, other WRTC divisions, landowners, community members, and agency employees
• Support the management and implementation of program strategies and planned outcomes
• Support seasonal forestry staff in collaboration with the Forestry Division Director including scheduling projects, coordination, and training
• Ensure that the quality of outcomes and deliverables meets or exceeds the stated needs of projects
• Collaborate with staff, partners, and contractors to achieve program goals, build relationships, and expand program capacity
• Support Program Director by contributing technical…